-
India - Source: ONE News
India's ruling Congress party officials met to resolve a
political standoff over a contentious women's quota bill after two
of its allies quit and left the government less elbow room to pass
economic legislation.
Already under fire over issues such as food inflation and a
proposed hike in fuel prices, India's coalition government has been
hit by turmoil trying to push through legislation reserving a third
of parliamentary seats for women.
The bill angered two of Congress' partners - the regional Samajwadi
Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) - which withdrew their
support.
On Wednesday they began mobilising support for a possible
parliamentary vote against the government.
While the Congress-led coalition still has a majority, the standoff
may prove a distraction for a government trying to push through key
economic legislation, including the 2010/11 budget.
"We are talking to everyone, everything is fine and we are not
worried," senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily said.
The two parties which quit backed the government from outside but
their support gave the Congress the room to push through policy
decisions in parliament to maintain high growth.
Samajwadi said it might consider bringing a no-trust vote against
the government.
"We do not have the numbers now, but we are in touch with other
political parties and if the situation changes we may consider it,"
Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said.
The women's quota bill, which has wide support among parties
including the main Hindu-nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP), was passed on Tuesday after a raucous day in the upper
house of parliament.
It still needs the approval of the lower house.
Critics say the legislation is being pushed through at the expense
of other disenfranchised minorities such as Muslims and will only
benefit women already in privileged classes.
Noisy protests
The women's quota bill has also left a major government ally
disaffected.
The Trinamool Congress party, one of the government's most
influential allies, abstained from voting on Tuesday to protest
against Congress' handling of the bill and said it would do the
same in the lower house.
The party has not spoken of breaking away from the coalition.
On Wednesday, a handful of Samajwadi and RJD lawmakers forced the
parliament's lower house to shut for the day with noisy protests
against the bill.
Given the trouble still expected over the bill, Congress officials
said it is unlikely to be introduced in the lower house, where the
priority now is to get the 2010/11 budget ratified.
The budget session breaks for a month next week.
Signalling its intentions to corner the government, the BJP said it
may seek a discussion and a parliamentary vote on the budget once
the house reconvenes next month.
"There are several issues over which the government has failed,"
Gopinath Mumde, the party's deputy chief in parliament's lower
house, said.
Technically, a defeat in such a vote would mean the government
would have to resign.
The women's quota bill, which was first introduced in 1996, is
intended to speed up women's empowerment in a country where women
lag far behind on many social and health indicators.
